EU Ministers to discuss the European Council and the EU

The current Presidency country, France, will present to the Council its proposal for the conclusions of the European Council meeting which will take place on 15 and 16 October. The Council will discuss the current economic and financial situation, the climate and energy package, energy security, the Lisbon Treaty, and the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum. External relations themes, such as Russia, Georgia and the Middle East, will mainly be discussed at the Foreign Ministers' dinner.

The Foreign Ministers will discuss the state of the EU’s monitoring mission in Georgia and Russia’s withdrawal which is to take place in line with terms of the truce by 10 October. On 22 October in Brussels, the European Union will organise a Georgia Donors Conference to support the country’s reconstruction. The European Commission has announced a pledge of EUR 500 million of European Union support to Georgia for the period 2008-2010.

The Council will also consider the situation in Belarus in the aftermath of the September parliamentary elections and potential changes in EU sanctions. The Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Stubb will give a presentation to the Council on his visit to Minsk as the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. Rapprochement between the EU and Belarus has become possible after Belarus released its last political prisoners in August. Finland’s position is that the EU must continue the dialogue and encourage Belarus to make democratic reforms. The shortfalls emerged in the elections must be identified and remedied in accordance with the recommendations issued by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Finland is prepared for a partial lifting of the EU sanctions against Belarus.

The situation in Uzbekistan will also be discussed. This year, Uzbekistan has made progress in the direction welcomed by the EU, for example by releasing human rights activists and abolishing the death penalty. Finland is of the opinion that the EU should consider easing sanctions against Uzbekistan. However, the country does not fulfil all the conditions laid down by the EU, so sanctions on arms exports must be kept unchanged.

The Foreign Ministers will also discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. Many questions relating to the power-sharing agreement still remain unsolved, and the negotiations concerning government posts have deadlocked. Finland considers it too early to decide on the lifting of sanctions against the government of President Robert Mugabe. It is, in the first place, necessary to ensure the arrival of humanitarian aid.

Further information: Jonna Laurmaa, Counsellor, EU Affairs, Government Secretariat for EU Affairs, tel. +358 9 1602 2191 and Markku Lampinen, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5530 or +358 40 546 0456